BEAVERDAMUNIFIEDSCHOOLDISTRICT
WALLOFFAME
Harlowe Randall Hoyt
2016 Outstanding Alumnus
Mr. Harlowe Randall Hoyt graduated from Beaver Dam High School in
1899. He began his writing career as a police reporter for the Milwaukee
Free Press. He was recognized nationally for his short stories, poems and
historical perspectives, which appeared in national magazines and
syndicated nationally in newspapers. His love of theater led him to a
career as a drama critic that spanned 60 years. He was known as the
nation’s Dean of American Theater Critics.
Mr. Hoyt was a successful playwright, writing several plays that toured
successfully across the Midwest. He received national acclaim for his
local true story, “The Defender of the Cameron Dam.” The success of this play led him to the
job of an editor for the Cleveland Leader, later the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Hopeful Broadway
productions tested in Cleveland, and Mr. Hoyt’s reviews often determined if a play would
proceed to Broadway.
Harlowe Randall Hoyt became acquaintances with Thomas Edison, which led him to write
screenplays for the first silent movies in the nation for Edison’s movie studio. He was familiar
with the actors breaking into silent pictures, which led him to become the first nationally
syndicated Hollywood gossip columnist. He was also the first internationally syndicated
cartoonist with his cartoon strip called “Dramatic Events in Bible History.”
Mr. Hoyt received greatest acclaim from his book, “Town Hall Tonight.” It chronicles his fond
memories of growing up in Beaver Dam and his brief encounters with Mark Twain, Harry
Houdini, P.T. Barnum, Col. Tom Thumb and the Ringling Brothers. Actor Hal Holbrook
consulted with Harlowe on how to play Mark Twain for his one-man show on Mark Twain. The
book is still used by universities nationwide in classes focused on the early days of theater. Two
plays have been written based on “Town Hall Tonight”, as well as a thesis biography of Harlowe
Randall Hoyt’s life. Mr. Hoyt retired as a drama critic at the age of 80 as the oldest living critic
in the world.